


for the line to move a foot

by hideyseek



Series: what happens when im home alone [3]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: (to be specific), Alternate Universe - Western, By a Fire, Cowboy Hats, Cowboys, M/M, T for swearing, Yearning, a fuck ton of imagery, because that and existential crises are all that separate teens from children, because that's what I'm good at, best laid plans, the thing i do where i get around an au by making it part of a job
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:34:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23974582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hideyseek/pseuds/hideyseek
Summary: It’s familiar, this distance.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Series: what happens when im home alone [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707835
Comments: 11
Kudos: 19





	for the line to move a foot

**Author's Note:**

> written as part of the AEDWQ (Arthur/Eames Drabble Writing Quarantine) run by the fantastic teacuphuman02!  
> prompt: Best Laid Plans  
> genre: Western  
> word count: >300 & <400
> 
> huge thanks to E for the extremely fast beta. 
> 
> i have exactly None Experience with westerns except a spaghetti western dci show i watched at big, loud, live in high school. as a direct result, the working document of this was called "only crying and nothing else" for the first three days. (then i changed it to "no crying!! only success!!" and finished this drabble by sheer force of will.)

They’re sitting in a desert losing time waiting for the kick because— _because_ their fucking architect dropped them in an Arizona desert instead of an 1850s mining town. Because Arthur knows Eames hates shooting himself out of trial dreams.

Arthur is restless and pacing, staring at Eames sprawled beside the fire with his stupid cowboy hat draped over his stupid handsome face. Because there’s nothing else to look at, because there’s a chance he’s in—because _nothing at all_.

He doesn’t plan to ever act on it, anyway. The _nothing_.

The sunset fills the divots of his bootprints with stark, elliptical shadows. Arthur might think near-constantly about bridging the space between them: a campfire, an ocean, the plastic folding table in that warehouse topside. But Arthur has never been good with relationships he doesn’t drown in.

The sunset yawns into night, ink-black and blue swallowing the distant mountains whole. Eames sleeps. Arthur paces. He refuses to burn through Eames like he burned through working with Dom, which means distance.

Eames shifts, and then he’s sitting up, looking toward Arthur with his face caught in an expression Arthur has never been able to decipher. Arthur stares back, as close to helpless in a dream as he has ever been.

“Sit with me, darling?” Eames asks, handsome and hoarse. Sparks burn themselves to death in the sand beside him.

Arthur crouches gingerly. No harm in tolerance, not in a dream. But he still loses his breath when Eames’ arm slides around his shoulders.

Arthur doesn’t mean to stay. But he listens to Eames’ steady exhale, and all at once he can’t think of anything to do but hold still as Eames’ close warmth sinks through the wool of his duster.

Until the kick, theirs is the smallest bubble of light in the world.

—

They wake in the familiar arrangement: their fingertips yards away from touching, the cannulae swinging softly between their wrists and the machine.

Later, Arthur watches as Eames lays out the plans for the second level on the plastic folding table, smoothing his fingertips across vellum to pin down the rolling edges. Arthur crosses the warehouse toward Eames, leans over his shoulder to see the plans.

No harm in concession, not really.

When Eames looks at him, Arthur holds his gaze and his breath. Eames smiles, and Arthur lets himself bask in their closeness until he aches with it.

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact from behind the scenes: the reason "hoarse" is in this is because when i explained this week's genre was western, E immediately DEMANDED i include horses — a concession, if you will. 
> 
> i'm also on tumblr/slack/discord @hideyseek, please come hang out!


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